In recent years, there has been a tremendous proliferation of computers connected to a global network known as the Internet. A “client” computer connected to the Internet can download digital information from “server” computers connected to the Internet. Client application and operating system software executing on client computers typically accepts commands from a user and obtains data and services by sending requests to server applications running on server computers connected to the Internet. A number of protocols are used to exchange commands and data between computers connected to the Internet. The protocols include the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP), the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and other protocols.
The HTTP protocol is used to access data on the World Wide Web, often referred to as “the Web.” The World Wide Web is an information service on the Internet providing documents and links between documents. The World Wide Web is made up of numerous Web sites around the world that maintain and distribute Web documents. A Web site may use one or more Web server computers that are able to store and distribute documents in one of a number of formats including the Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML). An HTML document can contain text, graphics, audio clips, and video clips, as well as metadata or commands providing formatting information. HTML documents also include embedded links, such as URLs, that reference other data or Web pages located on the local computer or network server computers. “URL” is an abbreviation for “uniform resource locator,” the global address of documents and other resources on the World Wide Web.
A Web browser is a client application, software component, or operating system utility that communicates with server computers via FTP, HTTP, and Gopher protocols. Web browsers receive Web documents (i.e. Web pages) from the network and present them to a user. Internet Explorer, available from Microsoft Corporation, of Redmond, Wash., is an example of a popular Web browser.
Recently, many users have started utilizing their Web browsers to locate streaming media sources. After a streaming media source is located, the Web browser works in conjunction with a media player in order to play the media on the client computer's monitor and/or speakers. An example of a popular media player is Windows Media Player, also available from Microsoft Corporation. A streaming media source is a source (e.g., a URL) that “streams” media/data to a client computer. Streaming is a technique for transferring data such that it can be processed as a steady and continuous stream. Streaming technologies are becoming increasingly important with the growth of the Internet because most users do not have fast enough access to download large multimedia files quickly. With streaming, the Web browser or media player can start displaying the data before the entire file has been transmitted. An example of a streaming media source is a radio station that “streams” its broadcast to users on the Internet. In this example, the streaming-media source (i.e. radio station) is downloaded from the Internet and played on a client computer using the Windows Media Player.
Unfortunately, it is inefficient and cumbersome for users to use two separate applications (e.g. Web browsers and media players) in order to browse and listen to streaming-media sources. For example, if a user is listening to a radio broadcast with a media-player application and decides to search for a new radio station, the user must launch a separate application (i.e. a Web browser) in order to find the radio station. Moreover, access to media-player and browser controls requires manual switching between the two applications by the user. This significantly hinders the Web browsing experience. This is illustrated in FIG. 13.
Further, Internet radio broadcasts typically contain information relevant to the item being played that is displayed in most media-players as text and images (e.g. information regarding the singer, record company, copyright, etc.). Many users are interested in viewing this information whenever the item changes. In order to simultaneously view this information and browse the Internet, the media-player and Web browser application windows must be displayed side-by-side on the user's screen. This significantly reduces the amount of available viewing area for displaying Web pages in a Web browser.
Furthermore, selecting a URL for an Internet radio station on a Web page automatically launches a media-player application. This is slow and results in a very distracting and unpleasant user experience.
Another prior-art integration of radio players with Web browsers has been to embed the player control in a Web page. The obvious limitation to this approach is that the radio station is dependent on the Web page that is hosting it. The user has no way of changing to a new Web page without interrupting reception of the radio station broadcast.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a single application that allows a user to play, control and select streaming-media sources, while simultaneously browsing the Internet.
A further object of the present invention is to provide seamless integration of a radio player with a Web browser so that a radio station can be played without interruption irrespective of the content being browsed.